A number of conditions and diseases of the central (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system adversely affect humans. These conditions and diseases include, for example, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumors and Fabry Disease. Clinical management strategies frequently focus of the prevention of further neurological damage or injury rather than replacement or repair of the damaged neurological tissue (e.g., neurons, glial cells); include treatment with exogenous steroids and synthetic, non-cellular pharmaceutical drugs; and have varying degrees of success which may depend on the continued administration of the steroid or synthetic drug.
For example, the majority of spinal cord injuries are compression injuries with the remaining cases involving complete transection of the spinal cord. Current therapeutic treatments for spinal cord injury include the prevention of additional spinal cord injury by physically stabilizing the spine through surgical and non-surgical procedures and by inhibiting the inflammatory response with steroidal therapy. Thus, there is a need to develop new, improved and effective methods of treatment for neurological diseases and conditions in humans.